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Why I Really Don’t Care About Olympic Basketball
Posted by: Shauna Brock on August 8th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Why should I? Give me one really good reason to care about what this latest “Dream Team” is up to. They are the hands down favorites going in and they’ve given me no reason to think they won’t keep beating up opponents. Even when (according to twitter) the defense is terrible and Kobe is just phoning it in, there’s no question. They’re going to win. This has been established by the media and the players, and honestly by the games that have been played.
Meanwhile, the US Women are on their way to a 5th consecutive Gold Medal and no one is talking about that. And the US Women’s Soccer Team has set up for a rematch with Japan. Despite both these teams being the favorites, there hasn’t been nearly as much posturing and this actually makes for interesting sports watching. (This is actually a lot of my issue with dominant teams like the Heat and the Lakers, but that’s a rant to take on when the season starts and per usual the Jazz are scrambling to get national attention.)
This isn’t ’92. This isn’t the US Men finally stepping into an arena and reclaiming some lost prize. This is about the dominance of US basketball and the men involved frankly being stupid about it. Go in and play. Stop acting like it’s your birthright to take home gold. It’s got me rooting against you or worse, not even caring. In four years, if there are Jazz guys on the team, I might care. But not if we keep hyping it up like this.
Things TO care about:
Why the US Women’s Quest for Gold Should be a Bigger Deal: http://www.complex.com/sports/2012/07/opinion-the-usa-womens-basketball-teams-quest-for-a-fifth-consecutive-gold-should-be-a-bigger-deal
And … the best tweet I’ve seen yet:
Basketball Minds @basketballminds
So CP3 And Melo Have Their Own Shoe Line But No Championship. Maya Moore Has A Championship But Doesn’t Have Her Own Shoe Line. When Then?
Next up: It’ll either be about the new Jazz GM or whatever new drama develops by next week.
Replies: 20
Views: 1409
20 Responses
I would hope that the Mens team loses.That would take care of their aaaaaarougancy.
I don’t like to watch the ladies play basketball. They look like a bunch of little girls..
Thanks for your post. I too do not like to watch the US Men’s Basketball team play. It reminds me of a all-star game, each game someone gets to show off. I’m convinced they are trying to beat a ghost, the original Dream Team and I don’t think they will make it. The women’s team plays more like a team and they seem not nearly as arrogant. Even better to watch are the women’s volleyball, water polo soccer and gymnastics. It is awesome to see those “little girls” bring home the gold. The women have won more gold medals for the US than the men overall.GO USA!
hmmm… I hear a lot of man hating and womans rights in what you’re saying. I typically stay wfar away from this kind of stuff, but my opinion is this. Watch what you want and don’t get mad at the wor;d for not seeing it your way. I can’t stand women feeling like they aren’t treated fairly… give me a break. Women athletes just aren’t men, sorry thats the way it is. But that didn’t keep me from watching womens volleyball claim gold and silver (awesome.. I’m a big fan)… That didn’t keep me from watching womans soccer winning in the final 30 seconds against Canada. That didn’t keep me from watching womens gymnastics, or diving. I watch the competition and cheer for the USA no matter what. If you cheer against mens basketball team while lebron puts up the only triple double in Olympics history then you should wise up and see how amazing they all are. Allstar games are nothing like these games, and though we can turn it on and take over a game about anytime we want (USA basketbell athlestes are by far the best in the world hands down)they do take over playind defense and showing how dang good they are! And when someone is feeling it you keep feeding them the ball no matter what level of basketball you play. I completely think youre a man hater and are someone that is always trying to put men down wherever you can. I won’t even go into how many problems that has caused this world, families and a bunch of other stuff. Thats why I couldn’t stand talk shows like Oprah,,, Its always the mans fault and women trying to get theirs while going negative on everyone else like their the victim. Sorry you struck a chord there cause this forum isn’t for that crap, its for Jazz basketball and having fun.
If you dont like it change the channel. Watching the USA’s best is exciting. Those guys are the top players in the world and the world is catching up fast.They dedicated their off seasons to getting usa back on top again, where I prefer. Its fun watching them play together as a team which they are(no individual player is getting 50 a game and their averaging 27 assists per game). I disagree that anyone of them are trying be arrogant. Anyways the USA women are and act exactly the same. Equally exciting and talented. Have you heard Diana Turasi interviews? Super Cocky/confident! You rooting against them is messed up and unpatriotic. Dont be a hater just cause these guys dont wear a Jazz uniform. USA USA
Hey Jake, when did you jump out of that 1950’s time machine? I think the men’s basketball at the olympics is more important to the 11 other countries who play. Not because they want to win gold, but because they want to play the US and take pride in their performance.. I was late for work this morning because I stayed home to watch the boomers play you guys. Did we have a hope in hell of winning, no. But we wanted our boys to take it to Team USA, the best in the world, and show what Australia is made of. Does the 0 odd point loss disappoint me, yes, but I was more filled with pride when we were only down by 3 with 6 mins to go in the 3rd quarter. How many other teams started with a college player, where the star of the team only gets garbage time in SA and the only other guy with NBA experience bounced between 3 teams in 2 seasons.
That is what Olympic basketball means, the rest of the world taking pride in their performances against team USA. For those of you old enough, remember Shane Heal vs Sir Charles in the olympic warm up game in SLC. Everyone in Australia does, why, for the reason above.
@SHauna: no need to write about the GM, we already know enough about him thanks to Locked on Jazz, the Zone, SL Trib and Deseret News. Unless you’ve got something new to say, don’t bother.
Did like your article, though. Different is good.
1950’s is womens rights? I think women are constantly taking what they can. How many tucked tails between the leg husbands do you see now days? Yeah thanks to oprah and all the other man hating books and garbage out there… thats what I’m talking about. I do agree though that every country wants to show what they can do, and I like that they give it all they got, but when USA wants to turn it on they destroy in a matter of minutes. I can’t wait to see Argentina, we are ticked at them and I hope USA makes them look like the womens team is out there against them.
This post and the comments following it are such cliches …
I’m going to let the fight for Title IX just happen in the comments but I am going to reiterate my point: It is not the USA’s birthright to assume gold in basketball and from what I can tell by the stuff I see on twitter, they’re playing like it is. That isn’t exciting, that’s posturing.
I can very much appreciate your post due to the fact that I despise half of Team USA (mens team). The Team USA Women are an amazing team. They play very well together, and their accomplishments are very impressive. Personally, I can’t watch womens basketball for too long for the simple fact that it is missing my favorite aspects of the sport. I love the dunks, the sweet passes, the pace of the game. I watched the first game the Women played, and it was entertaining, but all they did for the first 6 minutes was run back and forth missing shots. Watching the mens team was like watching a completely different sport (in a good way).
The women are in the Olympics, and they are dominating. There’s no reason to feel like people have to like their game more than the mens. Those who prefer to watch the men, can watch them. Those who prefer to watch the women, can watch them.
I have no reason to give you of why you should care about the mens team. But I have plenty of why I do. So we both can watch whichever we prefer. All I know, is I want all of the Teams from USA (in all sports) to do well.
If they thought it was their birthright then why do they go out and win? Why are they undefeated? Why have they averaged as many points per game as the original Dream Team? Oh by the way, we don’t even have our best talent on the team. We’re missing players like Wade, Bosh, Howard. Not saying Chandler isn’t good but Howard is a monster in the middle and Bosh showed how valuable he is last olympics, so we aren’t doing the damage we could be. Look birthright is a silly way to describe things, but there’s an 800lb gorilla in the room and everyone knows it, even the gorilla knows it. That gorilla knows there is nothing anyone can do to hurt it and it will destroy when it wants to. Why are you upset that team USA expect to live up to its greatness. Anything less than a gold would be a complete failure with the talent we have, the players know this and so does the rest of the world. Every team wants to UPSET team USA because they know they really don’t have a chance. Team USA would have to literally give the game away cause no team is going to take it from us. That was proven with Argentina thinking they could get chipy and try to compete because of a win against a bunch of thugs in the 2004 olympics… USA realized you need to have people with character and that care to represent USA in order to have the best we have to offer, not represent themselves. Ever since then the rest of the world seems to think we can be beat? Even in the games now, the players let the other team hang for a while and then turn it on. When they turn it on the other teams can hardly get a shot off without the a steal happening and fast break that occurs so lightening fast that they can do nothing but be spectators themselves.
Shauna… lets give credit where credit is due. TEAM USA is the best talent in the world at what they do in basketball. We should have an attitude of being the best, the best always do know what they’re capable of and aren’t afraid to show it. We have some very humble guys leading this team as well like Duran and Lebron. I don’t get why you think we have guys who expect anything without proving themselves? When you have other teams in awe of what they are playing against and can’t help but be amazed why on earth would you critisize and down our team? TEAM USA expects to win Gold and they should expect that. They know that no one can stop them.
Hope i’m never on a team of any sort of yours Shauna. Its like you want them to think they are going to lose. If they thought that way, they would not be in the NBA or at the Olympic games.
No one cares about your WNBA players not having shoe deals, because they do not bring in the money the men do. Because the populace in general, doesn’t care about watching her play ball. I want to see monster dunks, monster blocks, etc… Blake Griffin probably dunks more in one season then the entire WNBA as a whole. Women are boring to watch. The mens basketball get the most coverage not just by the US, when the NBA players started in the Olympics the world took notice. They have to turn away hundreds of reporters on the days the Basketball team talks to the media. What other event gets that coverage. The world wants to know. The amount of coverage a sport gets will be deemed by the populace that watchs for that information. If the world wanted to get to know the fencers, the archers, or the bad minton players. There would be a whole lot more coverage of those sports.
The Soccer game was pretty interesting and I don’t watch the sport. To say they didn’t get coverage, they replayed that scene 40 times when the Basketball game was supposed to be on. I have seen plenty of talk about women’s soccer, maybe your looking in all the wrong places.
So sick and tired of people getting angry because the rest of the world doesn’t agree with their line of thinking, you watch what you want and cheer them on. I’ll be watching the Americans stick it to their NBA rivals that play on other teams.
Exactly Matt!
She’s a man hater and apparently an american hater as well. Move to france then and join their haters. She came to the wrong place to be putting the best the USA has to offer (outside of Phelps) in the Olympics. You nailed it. Women are fighting for womens rights without earning it. If you want us to all be watch womens sports then do better than men. Lets see women jump 40 inches in the air while being 6′8” tall. Lets see them run a 9.67 100 meter dash…. If they were the one’s amazing they’d be getting the coverage, and they do get the coverage and attention all the time. Women are never satisfied!
Seriously want to kick some of them
I meant to say… she came to the wrong place to be putting DOWN the best the USA has to offer in the olympics… And I was kidding about the kick comment… I think
I am not gonna throw name calling around but I think I agree with some of Matt and Jake’s points. I dont however agree with how they are stating them. Its kind of mean.
Heres the deal, not many people in America care about or even know who Maya Moore is. That is not taking away from her obvious basketball talent. But giving her a shoe deal is a waste of money as a business decision. Basketball shoes in general appeal to largely male crowd and not many men or young boys will buy Maya Moore shoes because they A) dont know who she is or B) Dont care one bit about the WNBA. C) Human Civilization is Male-centered on a world scale. That is just the way it is. Not many men would purchase a shoe that is solely endorsed by a comparatively obscure female athlete. Its not rooted in sexism but Human nature. I dont like the WNBA because it is not the same level of competition as the NBA. I dont like college basketball for the same reason. Its not fun to watch a bunch of players that cannot compete at the highest level of Professional basketball in the world. The only olympic basketball game I have watched so far was US vs Spain because at any given time there was 10 NBA players running the floor.
Finally, The reason that the NBA Mens team garners the most support is because its full of celebrity athletes like Lebron and KD. I have watched a lot of sportscenter in my day and can only name 3 athletes combined from the female soccer and basketball team. Maya moore, Diana Taurasi, and Hope Solo. Most sports fans can name 8 or 9 players on the Mens team. That is the reason it gets so much support.
Shauna… How many athletes go to the Olympics not expecting to win gold? It’s a winners mindset. If you don’t believe you’ll win, you for sure win.
LOL! Right after I read the the first line of the second paragraph I thought to myself “It would be funny to post “because womens basketball is boring to watch”" but then decided it would be mean…
*won’t
Someone must be so annoyed and heartbroken that Team USA succeeded.
I have been reading on this site for awhile now, but never have I seen a more stupid article than this one. I actually got an account solely so I could let you know how idiotic, uneducated, and uninformed you are. I haven’t read the responses above, so if I am repeating anyone, I apologize.
Acting like it’s your birthright to win? What does that even mean? They go in with the expectation that nothing less than gold is acceptable. If they went in with any other mindset, there would be a huge problem. The US has always been the dominant force in world basketball, and silver would be considered a huge failure, especially with the talent on that team. So they play like it. No one displayed arrogance. In fact, after every win other than the gold medal game, they simply walked off the court without any celebration. They all talked about what an honor it was to represent their country, specifically LeBron, who defaulted the legendary year he has had by saying, “It’s all about the three letters on my chest.” If you can’t cheer for a group of guys like that, then your patriotism is in question, and you should feel free to live somewhere else.
Why do CP3 and Melo have a shoeline? Because there is a market for it. If there were a demand for a “Maya Moore” shoe line, I’m pretty sure Nike or some other shoe company would jump on it. This basic principle of economics isn’t present whatsoever in your idiotic analysis, which shows you are just looking for a reason to hate on Team USA.
Soccer is not a huge sport in America. Comparing it’s buzz in the US to the men’s basketball team is, frankly, pretty stupid. That being said, the US women’s soccer team got plenty of coverage on ESPN and today shows (Alex Morgan was on one that I happened to be watching, and probably several others that I did not see). Additionally, millions of people were tuned in to women’s soccer, especially after the semifinal thriller with Canada. Not that it matters, but I watched and cheered for our girls’ soccer team in every game. Additionally, most of our men’s basketball team showed up for the soccer games to cheer them on, which goes against how you made them seem like a bunch of millionaires who are going to London solely to expand their brand.
In conclusion, you’re a moron for posting this article (which has nothing to do with Utah Jazz basketball), and should no longer be able to post on this site if you’re going to come up with dumb sh*t like this. I believe a quote from the movie Billy Madison applies here-
“…what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I’ve ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone [on this website] is now dumber for having [read] it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul!”